When Considine saw me wave, he dramatically blew me a kiss. “Hurry back, darling!” he called.
Yet another blush burned at my cheeks, but it made it easy to roll my eyes and huff, seemingly embarrassed by my overly affectionate boyfriend.
Leaning against the door to push it open, I took the risk and glanced at the stressed-out woman again, angling myself so I could see her cellphone screen.
She had her notes app open, with a numbered list that was not arranged in numerical order. She’d recorded the teller counters, the entrance, the lobby exit that led to other parts of the building, and a few other locations I couldn’t make out.
Wait…the numbers, that’s the number of guards in that area! She’s scouting Tutu’s!
The sweating woman glanced at me.
Immediately I directed my gaze away from her and tried to appear casual, but it was too late, she’d noticed.
The woman paled, then shoved her phone in her pocket and bolted.
CHAPTER
FOURTEEN
Jade
She rushed me as I was standing in front of the only entrance. I didn’t know if she was armed, so to mitigate risk, I stepped to the side so she would believe she could sprint past me.
Once she was even with me, I slid my foot into her path, tripping her.
She started to go down, flopping like a fish, but I caught one of her wrists and yanked her back up, redirecting her momentum so she swung back the way she came, and smacking her into the brick wall.
I spun her around before she recovered so her face was pressed against the wall, then secured her wrists behind her.
All of this happened silently. Within seconds.
“Let go of me—this is assault!” The woman squeaked as she wriggled in my grasp.
She was shorter than me, and my weightlifting gave me a strength advantage, so I was able to hold her pinned in place without much effort.
I wish I had a pair of cuffs—the guards probably have some.
“Let her go!” A man shouted. He’d been standing a few feet away at what Wisconsinites quaintly called ‘the bubbler’ but was actually a drinking fountain.
He was approximately the same age as the woman, with pale brown hair. He also held a cellphone, and wore a terrified expression I knew didn’t bode well for me.
She had a partner. I didn’t think to account for that.
Another lightning quick inspection made me conclude he was a human—not a supernatural—and was also taking notes based on the presence of his cellphone.
He was almost to me by this point and was raising his fists to take a swipe at me.
I can’t let her go, so I’ll have to dodge if I can, or take the hit if I can’t. It was my mistake not to consider if she had a partner, so I’ll have to bear the fall out.
I adjusted my feet to a wider stance and fixed my grasp on the woman so I’d be able to hold on even if I got hit.
The man snarled as he punched…then abruptly disappeared from my line of sight.
What the—?
It took me a moment to find him, face planted on the ground, arms and legs spread like a starfish. Considine stood on him, his foot planted between the man’s shoulder blades, keeping him pinned to the tiled floor.
I watched, stunned.
